With the overall stabilization of the scale of mobile Internet users, a small peak in traffic growth was observed in the first quarter of 2022, reaching 1.183 billion by the end of March. The network usage of users continued to grow steadily, and the monthly per capita usage time increased by 12.1% year-on-year. Driven by the popularity of mobile Internet and the trend of aging population, the middle-aged and elderly groups over 40 years old have become the main source of user growth. 

The inter-city distribution structure of users on the entire network has stabilized as a whole, and users in new first-tier, second-tier, and third-tier cities have shown a slight increase with the flow of social population. The current environment drives the growth of virtual life and virtual office demand. The needs of online users have promoted the growth of the penetration rate of users in integrated e-commerce, online banking and other industries, which accelerated the process of digitization.

At the same time, the mobile Internet promotes the digitization process and the development of various fields. Due to the difference in network usage, the users from small cities or rural areas and older users are the key expansion groups in the current market, but the living background and behavioral habits of these groups have their own network preferences. For example, QuestMobile data shows that the users from small cities or rural areas prefer content such as videos and cars, while older users prefer information content. In order to cover the needs of different user groups to obtain more traffic, some companies develop different versions of applications to promote the digital penetration of products.

Digitalization leads to new consumer marketing trends. Online consumption and online marketing can complement each other to bring more sales. Data from the National Bureau of Statistics shows that offline consumption has further shifted to online. According to QuestMobile data, the scale of Internet advertising in Q1 2022 will maintain a year-on-year growth rate of about 3.9%.

The mobile Internet showed peak in user traffic growth in Q1 2022 

With the overall stabilization of the scale of mobile Internet users, a small peak in traffic growth was observed in the first quarter of 2022, reaching 1.183 billion by the end of March. The network usage of users continued to grow steadily, and the monthly per capita usage time increased by 12.1% year-on-year. Driven by the popularity of mobile Internet and the trend of aging population, the middle-aged and elderly groups over 40 years old have become the main source of user growth. 

The inter-city distribution structure of users on the entire network has stabilized as a whole, and users in new first-tier, second-tier, and third-tier cities have shown a slight increase with the flow of social population. The current environment drives the growth of virtual life and virtual office demand. The needs of online users have promoted the growth of the penetration rate of users in integrated e-commerce, online banking and other industries, which accelerated the process of digitization.

At the same time, the mobile Internet promotes the digitization process and the development of various fields. Due to the difference in network usage, the users from small cities or rural areas and older users are the key expansion groups in the current market, but the living background and behavioral habits of these groups have their own network preferences. For example, QuestMobile data shows that the users from small cities or rural areas prefer content such as videos and cars, while older users prefer information content. In order to cover the needs of different user groups to obtain more traffic, some companies develop different versions of applications to promote the digital penetration of products.

Digitalization leads to new consumer marketing trends. Online consumption and online marketing can complement each other to bring more sales. Data from the National Bureau of Statistics shows that offline consumption has further shifted to online. According to QuestMobile data, the scale of Internet advertising in Q1 2022 will maintain a year-on-year growth rate of about 3.9%.